


Broken Beakers

by secretflame



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-10
Updated: 2014-12-10
Packaged: 2018-02-28 23:27:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2751122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secretflame/pseuds/secretflame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carmilla discovers something strange in the Silas University's Biology lab</p>
            </blockquote>





	Broken Beakers

The corridors of Silas University’s Science Building had the unfortunate tendency of almost-always being crowded with students. The mosaic tiling that composed the floor spent its day being trodden on by dirty boots. The beautiful stone walls were covered in event posters and club sign-up sheets, along with the odd missing person notices that popped up from time to time. The grand architecture and artistry of the building was lost beneath the dust and grime left behind by the thousands of germy, disgusting twenty-somethings that attended the school.  
Carmilla hated it.   
Carmilla actually hated most things about Silas, but the mistreatment of the Science Building was one of the things she hated most of all. Not that she thought of it as the Science Building, really. In her mind, it would always be the dormitory; her original home away from home, long before her interment in the earth, and long before the powers that be decided that it would be put to much better use full of laboratories and lecture halls rather than a place for a weary vampire to rest her head.   
She walked down the secluded corridor slowly, pausing every so often to tear down a poster from the stone, tearing the paper into small strips before discarding it carelessly onto the floor. What were a few more pieces of trash when added to a century of filth, she thought absently as she tore up another flyer.  
She wouldn’t have bothered coming to the Science Building at all, if it wasn’t for the fact that her soy milk container was empty and her stomach was growling. Carmilla needed blood, and the only way she could get it was by stealing it from the science department, who, for some reason, kept a large supply of O⁻ tucked away in their freezers.   
She had already grabbed a few bags of blood, stuffing them inside the backpack she carried. Now it was just the journey back to her dorm, back to Laura, that awaited her.   
She was almost at the foot of the spiraling staircase that would lead her out of the ground floor of the building when she noticed that there was a light on in one of the laboratories to her left. The door was shut, but tendrils of light escaped beneath it, casting an eerie glow on the tiles.   
Carmilla stopped walking, and looked at the door. No one was supposed to be around this late. The Alchemy Club meeting had ended an hour ago, she knew, since she had waited for them to leave before entering the building. Those creepers were the only ones who had permission to use the laboratories at night. The laboratory had also been empty when she had arrived, with the door wide open and the lights off. So, who occupied it now?  
Carmilla walked up to the door, and pressed her ear against the wood. It was a thick mahogany, but vampirism had its benefits, and her hearing was impeccable.   
She could hear someone muttering inside, shifting around. She couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, but it was obvious that they were upset.   
Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Carmilla swore quietly, pulling herself away from the door in order to reach in and pull out the phone.   
Are you coming home soon? read the message. Laura had sent it, of course. Carmilla bit her lip, glancing back at the door.   
Soon. Just have to check something first. She replied, fingers moving swiftly over the keys. She hit send and slipped the phone back into her pocket. There was no reason for her to stay, no reason for her to be so curious about who was inside the laboratory. But, something inside her kept her from leaving.   
She grasped the door handle, slowly turning it, careful to not make much noise as the door creaked open. She opened it far enough so that she could slip through, then shut it again just as quietly, before looking at the interior of the laboratory.   
It was a mess. Beakers and flasks were strewn about everywhere, broken glass glittering on the floor. A microscope teetered haphazardly on the edge of a table. An open bottle of tequila stood next to an open bottle of hydrochloric acid. And in the midst of it all was LaFontaine, muttering to themself.   
“Come on…” they said, pouring some strange violet liquid into a beaker that was already half-filled with something yellow. The fumes emitting from it were enough to make Carmilla gag, but LaFontaine did not seem to be effected. “Come on, you stupid piece of…”  
“What are you doing?” Carmilla asked, trying to sound apathetic.   
LaFontaine’s head whipped up at the sound of Carmilla’s voice. “Woah, where…where did you poof from?” Their speech was slightly slurred, words too elongated for there to be any hint of sobriety in them.   
Carmilla rolled her eyes, ignoring the young scientist’s question. “What the hell are you doing, Ging? The control freak would probably flip out if she saw the mess you’ve made.”  
LaF cast their eyes down. “Per isn’t here, so…shut up.”  
Carmilla let out a low whistle, walking closer to LaF. She pushed the microscope further back on the table as she came by it, before moving next to them. She reached out, fingers closing around the neck of the beaker, attempting to take it out of LaF’s hands. “You really shouldn’t be messing with chemicals when you’re drunk, Einstein.”   
LaF refused to let go of the beaker. “I’m not drunk.”  
Carmilla used her other hand to motion towards the bottle of tequila. “That would seem to imply otherwise. Besides, you smell like a distillery.” It was true. The closer the vampire had gotten to them, the more the scent of alcohol had overpowered the noxious fumes that were still emitting from the beaker.   
LaF glared at Carmilla, their eyes dull and glazed over. “What do you want, Carm?”  
Carmilla managed to finally get the beaker out of LaF’s grasp, setting it far out of their reach. “To know why you’re messing around with stuff this late at night, while drunk and alone, mostly. I’d also like a pony, but I don’t think you have one of those.”  
LaF shook their head, gripping the edge of the table. “Just leave me alone, Carmilla.”  
Carmilla cocked an eyebrow, surprised. “Now, you’ve actually peaked my interest enough to come in here and inquire about what you’re doing….now you want me to leave?”  
“I never asked you to come in here and interrupt me!” LaF proclaimed, turning towards the vampire, desperately trying to reach for the beaker that Carmilla had placed so far away. “So just…” they grunted, leaning as far as they could over the tabletop, “leave!”  
Carmilla watched as they struggled, feeling some sort of pity deep inside of her as they gave up, half-lying on the table, gasping. She reached over, fingers closing over LaF’s wrist. “Hey..”  
“Let go of me!” LaFontaine ripped their arm away, holding it close to their chest as they began to shake.   
“LaFontaine, what is going on?” Carmilla asked, abandoning her normal tone of boredom. “I’ve never seen you act like this.”  
“Well, gee, I wonder it that could be because you’re always holed up in your room, pretending like you’re some big bad vamp who’s going to eat someone all the fucking time!” LaF backed away from her, still clutching their arm against their sternum. “Maybe if you got down off that high horse, you’d see that other people actually have emotions and feelings and issues!” LaF ran into a lab bench, stumbling backwards. Carmilla reached out, managing to move quick enough to catch them before they hit the ground.   
“How about you sit down, and calm down.” She swept the broken glass away before gently, but forcibly, pushing LaFontaine onto the floor. “And stop yelling at the vampire who just happens to be hungry and wouldn’t mind snacking on some redhead.”  
LaF continued to glare at her, but didn’t attempt to rise. “At least get me my tequila, if you’re going to be such an ass.”  
Carmilla shrugged, reaching for the bottle. She grabbed it, and started to hand it to LaF, before pulling it back. “You can have this after you tell me what you’re doing here.”  
LaF groaned, pouting. “That’s not fair, Carm!”  
“I never said it was.” She tilted the bottle back, swallowing as tequila trickled down her throat. LaF watched, eyes burning with drunken anger. “Now, talk.”  
“I’m just running an experiment, okay? It’s what I do, now…” they reached out, “give me the damn bottle.”  
“Not so fast. What experiment are you running?” Carmilla looked around the lab, motioning towards the abandoned beaker. “The gunk in that thing looks a lot like the goop that came out of Betty and the rest of the…” her voice trailed off. “Please tell me that that isn’t the same gunk.”  
LaF’s cheeks burned red, and they looked down at the floor, refusing to answer.   
“I thought we were done with all that shit! The girls are back, they shouldn’t still be secreting that…”  
“It’s not from the missing girls,” LaF interrupted, their voice low.   
“Then where is it…”  
“It’s mine.” LaF looked up at Carmilla, the anger gone from their eyes, leaving behind only emptiness. “Happy now?”  
Carmilla blinked, confused. “Why are you…how are you…”  
“Cerebrospinal fluid.” They reached out for the tequila. This time, Carmilla allowed them to take it. “Don’t worry, I’m not secreting it or anything.”  
“Then how…”  
They took a swig from the bottle, laughing tonelessly. “You’d be surprised just how easy it is to convince someone to give you a lumbar puncture here.”   
Carmilla stared at them, utterly confused and more than a tiny bit concerned. “Isn’t that dangerous? Why do you want your cerebrowhatever fluid anyway?”  
“To see if there’s any creepy crawlies still living in it. Why else?” They started to raise the bottle to their lips again, before a sob escaped their lips. They brought their knees into their chest, and began to cry.   
Carmilla sat there, not sure of what to do. Comforting humans (other than Laura, of course, and that was still a bit of a struggle), did not come easy to her. “Uh…well…I mean, I don’t think…”  
“Don’t think what? That they’d still be there?” LaF raised their head, looking at Carmilla with bloodshot, teary eyes. “The Light is still alive, as we’ve discovered, so why the hell wouldn’t they still be there? The damn thing never got his sacrifice, now did he? The parasites could just be living in there, waiting to turn me into a head-banging idiot again!” They dropped the bottle, ignoring it as the tequila spilled onto the linoleum. They scrambled to their feet, trying to get back to the beaker. “I need to know, Carm! I need to know!”  
Carmilla grabbed them, holding them close to her chest as they sobbed into her jacket. “LaF, you need to calm down, and stop this. You’re drunk, and in no position to be running tests on your brain fluid. Go home, and do it tomorrow.”  
“But…”  
Carmilla growled, the noise low and dangerous. “I’m taking you home, whether you like it or not. Now. You have the choice of either packing your nasty brain gunk up and finishing tomorrow, or I’m going to carry you out of here against your will. Make your decision.”  
LaFontaine struggled for a moment, straining against Carmilla’s grip, before giving up and nodding. “Fine…let me put the beakers away first.”  
Carmilla let them go, watching carefully as they grabbed the beaker and stuck it in a refrigerator. “Ready?”  
LaF nodded again, walking in front of Carmilla. Carmilla followed them out, turning off the lights and shutting the door behind them.   
They walked back to the dormitory in silence. LaF swerved often, unsteady of their feet, but Carmilla made sure they didn’t fall.   
They managed to get back to LaFontaine’s room without any issues. By that time, LaF’s eyes were dry and hooded, exhaustion showing in their face. Carmilla watched as they kicked off their shoes and fell into their bed.   
She was about to leave when she heard them speak. “Carm?”  
She turned, eyebrow raised. “Yeah?”  
“Am I going to be okay? Are the parasites gone?”  
Carmilla hesitated, before nodding. “Yeah, I think they are.”  
“Good…” LaF turned their head, resting it on a pillow. “I don’t want to be a raving vegetable again….” Their voice trailed off as sleep overcame them, their breathing turning into soft snores as Carmilla watched.   
She stayed there for a few more minutes, observing as their back rose and fell in time with their breathing. “I sure hope they’re gone.” She whispered, before turning away and exiting the room. “I don’t know what to do if they’re not.”  
She shut the door behind her.


End file.
